Sunday, February 27, 2011

Back Home

We left Florida bright and early in the morning on the 16th to Winnipeg.  It was nice that Ken, Andrea and Dad got up at 5am to send us off and Ken left us a couple of bottles of water and two double chocolate cookies on the hood of the rental car for us to eat.  We went through New York, got to see the sights from a distance and then off to Chicago for a three hour layover.  We found our gate F12, had a bite to eat and played some Angry Birds and got caught up on our emails.  It was 20 minutes before our flight was to take off and they were still not calling us for boarding so Craig headed to the board to see if the plane was delayed.  Now we are in a rush as they changed our gate to F1 and if you have ever been to O'Hara Airport it is a fair distance away.  We made it just in time to board the plane, thank God.

We arrived in Winnipeg at the scheduled time and had the best Canadian Customs officer ever! No seriously, she was great and we only had to pay $60.00 duty/taxes.  From there we picked up the Edge from Park 'n Fly and drove to Carman to see my mom and Hannah.  Yeah you could say Hannah was excited to see us, she usually doesn't sleep on the bed with us but that night she was between us all night long.  

The following day we headed to Waldenway to pick up the pointers and do a little shopping in Winnipeg with my mom.  We did not have the radio on and didn't know that there was a weather warning out, it was a bit windy in the city.  We started to head back to Carman and noticed that the wind was a little strong and by the time we were on Hwy. 3 we couldn't see a foot in front of us.  We joined up with some more crazies on the highway and started a convoy to Carman.  By the time we got to to Sperling the wind calmed down a bit and my eyes were strained and my palms were sweaty.  We made it back to mom's safe and sound, exhausted but safe.

The week was filled with visiting friends, doing last minute shopping, getting Molly's blood recheck (everything is on the way back to normal) and selling our Edge.  The dealership, Steeltown Ford in Selkirk, bought the Edge back from us which saved us the hassle of trying to sell it ourselves.  We apologies if we didn't get to see some of you while we were in town.

We left Winnipeg to head back home on Thursday, woke up at 3am and was at the airport with everyone about an hour later.  We were flying West Jet out of Winnipeg to Edmonton and the crew in Winnipeg was great.  We had 3 large dog crates, 2 action packers, one large suitcase, one small suitcase and of course our carry-on.  They helped us by getting a flatbed trolley for the dogs and Craig and I put everything else on two smaller trolleys.  After checking in the dogs and our luggage we headed up to security as time was running out.  Of course they stopped me with my camera gear, had to check everything, and then the second announcement came for us to board.  At the end of security there was a crew member waiting for us to accompany us to our gate.  

We had a couple of hours in Edmonton, had to claim ALL of our luggage and re-check in at the airport.  What a hassle!  No help from anyone, no flatbed trolleys for the dogs so Craig made 6 trips upstairs with the luggage as I stayed down with the dogs.  We finally were on board and on the way home, tired and exhausted we made it back home only 1/2 hour late.  Sheila and Cat were there waiting for us with their vehicles to help us get everything home in one trip, great friends.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking and Friday was spent trying to get the truck started and doing some grocery shopping, in the evening Jim, Sheila and Marg came over for a visit.  Yesterday there was a hip-hop presentation at the community centre from 2 - 4pm so we went to see the dancers.  The kids were out of school this past week so the community brought up a couple of  hip-hop dancers from Edmonton to teach the kids and adults. The first presentation was the adult square dance club, a newly formed club in town.  From there it was the kids turn to entertain us and some of these kids were really good.  The final presentation was the adult hip-hop dancers.  All the dancers were great and it was a fun afternoon spent.

There was a polar bear sighting about 5kms from town, posters everywhere to warn the community.  Kinda exciting and scary at the same time.  Would love to see one in the wild, just enough time for me to get a picture and then leave...quickly.  Will keep you posted if there are more sightings.

Tomorrow is a big day here and since this post is getting long I will do another one tomorrow.  The pictures today are from the dancers and an example of  how much snow there was along the house.

Talk soon!
Craig clearing some snow off the snowbanks that covered 1/2 our windows.
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My two new pets that I smuggled across the border from the Everglades. They now have a new home in my bathroom.
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Loved watching this boy dance...he could really move
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Some dancers had a chance to show off their stuff
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This guy could really dance
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Cute dancers
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Last day in Florida

Very sad tonight as we are leaving very early tomorrow morning, getting up at 4am.  We only see our niece Jade and Ken and Andrea about once a year so it is hard to leave.  We have fun with them playing rummy & BINGO, going to the beach or just hanging out in the hot tub.  They always make us feel welcomed into their home whenever we are in Florida...maybe some day they will head north so that we can return the favour?!

We had some last minute shopping to do today so Craig and I headed to the outlet mall for a couple of hours.  Our second stop today was at S.O.B. at Ft. Myers Beach for the best grouper burger in town and of course a bottle of Land Shark beer.  Craig has been dreaming of a grouper burger for a few weeks now so it was well worth the wait.  If  you are ever at Ft. Myers you must go to the beach and to S.O.B. for some food.  

After that we met Mom, Jade, Dad and Ken at Bonita Beach for the sunset.  After a couple of hours and taking pictures we met Andrea for some awesome Mexican food.  We all stuffed our faces with enchiladas, tacos and fajitas.

Tomorrow we head back to Manitoba for a week with my mom.  It will be good to see her and of course our dogs.  We will see Hannah and Granny (my mom) tomorrow night, then we will hit the road again the following day to pick up Molly and Blitz from Waldenway Canine & Kitty Camp.  We fly back home to Nunavut the following week and that is when the next posting will be.

Just a couple of pics tonight from Bonita Beach.

Talk soon! 
Just a sample of the fun Jade and Craig had at Bonita Beach today
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Farewell from Florida
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Sanibel Island

For Valentine's Day we headed to one of my favorite places in Florida...Sanibel Island.  It was a nice day to head to the beach and  I made a lunch for us to have on the causeway.  The traffic to the Island was not bad today and once we were on the beach we found a perfect spot to bake in the sun.  We stayed at Sanibel for the afternoon and then headed back home for dinner.

Ken had dinner on the stove and 4 heart shaped boxes of chocolate on the dining room table for the ladies.  The chocolates were amazing, some of the best I ever had.  After dinner and before our game of rummy Craig and I 'facetimed' with our friends Sandy and Keith who are vacationing in Aruba.  The connection was not great but we did get that they are having a wonderful time and would like to return one day with us.

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Ft. Myers, wish we could of stayed longer. Tomorrow we will probably get some last minute shopping done, have a grouper sandwich for lunch, watch the sunset at the beach and meet everyone else for dinner. 

The pictures tonight are from Sanibel Island.

Talk soon!
Our lunch area on the causeway
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The famous lighthouse on the island
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One of the many birds that were fishing today
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Dove that come over to us for a visit
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Our spot for the day at Sanibel Island
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One of the many entrances to the beach
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Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Everglades

What a day!  We started off this morning at about 10:00am and headed to Naples to purchase the D7000. Had to wait until noon for Ritz Camera to open so the boys went one way and the ladies headed the other.  We had a meet up time at 12pm at the camera shop and I was in and out within seconds, camera in hand.  Craig's mom and Jade were not up to going to the Everglades today so Andrea drove them back to Ft. Myers and me and the boys, Craig, Ken and Dad, headed south towards the Glades.  Ken and I had some fun playing with the new camera in the back seat and reading up on some of it's features.

I had one thing in mind and that was I wanted to see some alligators.  I have seen them before but not in the Everglades.  We stopped on the side of the road and took some pictures of them in the ditch.  After a good half hour we headed to Captain Doug's Small Airboat Tours.  With another half hour wait at the dock our Captain, Jim was ready to give us a tour.  Ken stayed back on land and it was the three of us that were on the boat.  We had some other passengers on the way, about 6 brown pelicans hitched a ride for awhile. With our captain feeding them we all had a great view of the throat of the pelicans. We learnt a couple of things about the brown pelican, solid brown ones are under two years old, when their heads turn white they are full grown and when their heads are yellow they are ready to mate.

The waters were very low today, only about a foot deep so there were no gators to be seen.  Jim did not disappoint us though, our first stop was to visit a friend of his, Rosie the raccoon or what they call wash bears.  She was so sweet and Craig and I got to feed her and I also gave her some bottle water to drink.  She was quite thirsty, Jim told us that due to the waters being so low it is very salty so they do not like to drink it.  I can image how dangerous it would be too and poor Rosie had a scar on her back from who knows what.  Tough neighbourhood.  

Not only does our captain feed Rosie he also feeds the pelicans and the fish on his travels.  He was throwing dog biscuits into the water and the catfish were coming up to the surface to fetch them.  From there he turned it up a notch and man can those airboats fly, remember the water is only about a foot deep.  His next stop for us was to visit some more friends, a mom raccoon and two of her babies or should I say teenagers.  So he fed and watered them along with a raven and off we went back to the dock.  We had a blast on the tour and would do it again in a heartbeat.

From there we headed to Clyde Butcher's Big Cypress Gallery.  What an amazing photographer!  If you get a chance here is his website http://www.clydebutcher.com  If you like Ansel Adams you will love Clyde Butcher.  We purchased one of his many table top books and a couple of little nick nacks.  You can head out the back door of the gallery for a short walk through the woods and then back to the parking lot.  The gallery is in the Everglades and there is a swamp area right beside the building and yes it has gators in it.  We walked across the highway to shoot some pictures of birds and we came across a massive alligator, picture to follow.  The curators, a husband and wife team, were very knowledgeable not only about Clyde but also the Everglades and they were just as curious with our life in the Arctic.  Craig and I talked to them for so long we closed the place down.

We got home just in time for a wonderful roast dinner that mom and Andrea prepared.  All in all a great day with the boys.

There are many pictures today, all were shot with the new Nikon.

Talk soon!


Stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of the Everglades
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Looking out into the Everglades
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Alligator just going into the water
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This little boat called the Bathtub went across the Atlantic Ocean...unbelievable
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Waiting for a ride at Captain Doug's
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INCOMING!
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Rosie the raccoon
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Craig feeding Rosie
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Me giving Rosie a drink after her snack
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You can see how low the water was today, only about a foot deep
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Mom and her two babies
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